solar panels and their direction

[solarman216]

Originally Posted by bobhope

didn't mention in my post ours cost us nothing , we use the the power they provide and the remaining goes to the company to get the fit payment .
in fact we got paid £50 to have them installed. this is the company http://ashadegreener.co.uk/

yes that works well as long as you do not want to sell your house, and how many years before they become yours? think it is 25 but memory dims, Rick

[makeitfit]

As far as I know they never become yours Also there is quite an issue at the mo regarding selling your house with them on. My brother in law is a 'agent
He's had many contracts fall through with solar PV freebe roof jobs.
No idea why

[RobN]

On the local (SW) news there was a house fire, firemen would not go in, and did not want to use water as there was no way to turn of the power from the panels - house was totally destroyed.

Some insurance companies do not like the roof loading and require structural calculations before they will insure.

High winds have removed panels where the supports have rotted - no one checks them, again bad for insurance.

Also discussions as to who owns the panels and who is responsible if they fall off and damage something makes for interesting debate when you sell your house and land someone with a 7 year old system. FIT was only just kept on it may go soon.

[makeitfit]

Originally Posted by RobN

On the local (SW) news there was a house fire, firemen would not go in, and did not want to use water as there was no way to turn of the power from the panels - house was totally destroyed.

Some insurance companies do not like the roof loading and require structural calculations before they will insure.

High winds have removed panels where the supports have rotted - no one checks them, again bad for insurance.

Also discussions as to who owns the panels and who is responsible if they fall off and damage something makes for interesting debate when you sell your house and land someone with a 7 year old system. FIT was only just kept on it may go soon.

Tosh, all panels have to have isolator switches and clearly marked , FACT.
The installation has to have roof / calcs to get the MCS cert in the first place.
Checks are done by law by the MCS issuer. That said there were a hell of a lot of mickey mouse fittings going on at the end of the 43p FIT . Properly installed frames should be fine.
Insurers are the problem I think, same as on cars :/
If they're the house owner's panels then they are responsible .
If they're a 3rd party install then THAT COMPANY is the responsible concern.

[solarman216]

Originally Posted by makeitfit

Tosh, all panels have to have isolator switches and clearly marked , FACT.
The installation has to have roof / calcs to get the MCS cert in the first place.
Checks are done by law by the MCS issuer. That said there were a hell of a lot of mickey mouse fittings going on at the end of the 43p FIT . Properly installed frames should be fine.
Insurers are the problem I think, same as on cars :/
If they're the house owner's panels then they are responsible .
If they're a 3rd party install then THAT COMPANY is the responsible concern.

nice idea, but isolator is usually close to the panels in the loft, house on fire who is going into the loft to turn them off, and in fact, you cannot turn them off at all if the sun is out, bearing in mind that they could well be working at 350 v DC add water I see an electrocuted fireman, Rick

[makeitfit]

I've been told by the sparky that does my MCS that there's isolator from panels (as close as practical) then another at the inverter.
I have to do his bidding or no cert
Bloody labels everywhere too.
Mind you I wouldn't fancy the water works on them though

[solarman216]

this is an issue I had not previously considered, it is true if the sun is out you CANNOT TURN THE POWER OFF, you can stop it going to the inverter but house on fire and water used to quench fire = not good news for fire fighters, short of covering the panels during a fire (not very practical) I can see no easy answer, other than let the property burn, bad news for solar PV owners, insurance increases on the cards I think, Rick

[solarman216]

and this is just a 4 x 4 forum, no it is a knowledge base, Rick

[makeitfit]

Originally Posted by solarman216

I can see no easy answer, other than let the property burn, bad news for solar PV owners, insurance increases on the cards I think, Rick

Indeed, and it could also be why some estate agents aren't in favour

[bobhope]

With our panels there is an isolator in the loft next to the inverter also next to out meter another isolator and 2 way consumer unit for them. the company take full pl insurance for the panels if anything goes wrong , true we don't actually own the panels the company just rent the space on our house for 25 years, we had to sign an agreement as stupid as it sounds for a peppercorn .

when we changed our mortgage they just asked for a copy or the contract agreement for the panels with no problems .

The panel company state that if any problems arise because of the panels if we decide to sell our house they will but it off us at market value .

I was really skeptical at first but 12 months on we have seen a massive reduction in our electricity bill , and don't see any negatives and if we did sell would be a good selling point i would have thought.

[solarman216]

Originally Posted by makeitfit

I've been told by the sparky that does my MCS that there's isolator from panels (as close as practical) then another at the inverter.
I have to do his bidding or no cert
Bloody labels everywhere too.
Mind you I wouldn't fancy the water works on them though

especially as they are usually running at around 380 volts DC and if the sun is out probably 30 plus amps, with water on melted cables does not bare thinking about, Rick